Lamentations 3

Lamentations 3New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

God’s Steadfast Love Endures

3 I am one who has seen afflictionunder the rod of God’s[a] wrath;2 he has driven and brought meinto darkness without any light;3 against me alone he turns his hand,again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,and broken my bones;5 he has besieged and enveloped mewith bitterness and tribulation;6 he has made me sit in darknesslike the dead of long ago.

7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;he has put heavy chains on me;8 though I call and cry for help,he shuts out my prayer;9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,he has made my paths crooked.

10 He is a bear lying in wait for me,a lion in hiding;11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces;he has made me desolate;12 he bent his bow and set meas a mark for his arrow.

13 He shot into my vitalsthe arrows of his quiver;14 I have become the laughingstock of all my people,the object of their taunt-songs all day long.15 He has filled me with bitterness,he has sated me with wormwood.

16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel,and made me cower in ashes;17 my soul is bereft of peace;I have forgotten what happiness is;18 so I say, “Gone is my glory,and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”

19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessnessis wormwood and gall!20 My soul continually thinks of itand is bowed down within me.21 But this I call to mind,and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,[b]his mercies never come to an end;23 they are new every morning;great is your faithfulness.24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,to the soul that seeks him.26 It is good that one should wait quietlyfor the salvation of the Lord.27 It is good for one to bearthe yoke in youth,28 to sit alone in silencewhen the Lord has imposed it,29 to put one’s mouth to the dust(there may yet be hope),30 to give one’s cheek to the smiter,and be filled with insults.

31 For the Lord will notreject forever.32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassionaccording to the abundance of his steadfast love;33 for he does not willingly afflictor grieve anyone.

34 When all the prisoners of the landare crushed under foot,35 when human rights are pervertedin the presence of the Most High,36 when one’s case is subverted—does the Lord not see it?

37 Who can command and have it done,if the Lord has not ordained it?38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most Highthat good and bad come?39 Why should any who draw breath complainabout the punishment of their sins?

40 Let us test and examine our ways,and return to the Lord.41 Let us lift up our hearts as well as our handsto God in heaven.42 We have transgressed and rebelled,and you have not forgiven.

43 You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,killing without pity;44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloudso that no prayer can pass through.45 You have made us filth and rubbishamong the peoples.

46 All our enemieshave opened their mouths against us;47 panic and pitfall have come upon us,devastation and destruction.48 My eyes flow with rivers of tearsbecause of the destruction of my people.

49 My eyes will flow without ceasing,without respite,50 until the Lord from heavenlooks down and sees.51 My eyes cause me griefat the fate of all the young women in my city.

52 Those who were my enemies without causehave hunted me like a bird;53 they flung me alive into a pitand hurled stones on me;54 water closed over my head;I said, “I am lost.”

55 I called on your name, O Lord,from the depths of the pit;56 you heard my plea, “Do not close your earto my cry for help, but give me relief!”57 You came near when I called on you;you said, “Do not fear!”

58 You have taken up my cause, O Lord,you have redeemed my life.59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;judge my cause.60 You have seen all their malice,all their plots against me.

61 You have heard their taunts, O Lord,all their plots against me.62 The whispers and murmurs of my assailantsare against me all day long.63 Whether they sit or rise—see,I am the object of their taunt-songs.

64 Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord,according to the work of their hands!65 Give them anguish of heart;your curse be on them!66 Pursue them in anger and destroy themfrom under the Lord’s heavens.

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